I watched a debate between a Christian and a member of the body of Christ the other night, over whether Universal Reconciliation was scriptural or not. There’s a lot that I could discuss about it, but one thing stood out in particular. The “against” debater pointed out that Jesus stated some people would not be… Continue reading Not everyone will be saved, and yet everyone will be saved
Author: Drew Costen
Is God a gentleman?
“But God won’t force people to go to heaven to live with Him against their will,” he said when he found out I believed in Universal Reconciliation. “Forcing someone to do something against their will is called rape, and God wouldn’t do that.” “I should probably point out that I’m not saying He’ll let them… Continue reading Is God a gentleman?
Jesus only returns once
Trying to refute the idea of the Snatching Away (or the Rapture, as he called it), I recently had someone tell me that Jesus only returns once, saying, “There’s nothing in the Bible that indicates Jesus will return from heaven to the earth twice.” And you know what? He’s absolutely right. Jesus only returns to… Continue reading Jesus only returns once
Salvation by superiority
I’ve written about some of the street preachers of downtown Toronto before (see here and here), but I came across some of them again yesterday while on a walk, and once again the duplicity of the words they preached jumped out at me (although I believe they almost certainly had no idea how deceptive what they… Continue reading Salvation by superiority
The end result of Paul’s Gospel
While most members of the body of Christ agree that the CLV is one of the most accurate English versions of the Bible translated so far, it’s not always the easiest to read, being a literal version and all, so I decided to write my own paraphrase of what might be the most informative explanation… Continue reading The end result of Paul’s Gospel
Reading the Bible out of order
There’s an important principle of Bible study that has been ignored by nearly all Christians, and because of this, Christianity is full of unscriptural doctrines. You see, God defined what was considered to be sinful for Israelites in the Mosaic law, and basically told them everything they needed to know about life and death in… Continue reading Reading the Bible out of order
Who ends up in the lake of fire?
In my last post I hinted at the idea that the lake of fire will be relatively empty. This, of course, goes against the traditional ideas that most Christians believe, but then, so does nearly everything I write on this website, so that’s nothing new. So who actually does end up in the lake of… Continue reading Who ends up in the lake of fire?
Dialogue with an evangelical
The following is an amalgam of actual discussions I’ve had with real people, both in person and online: I didn’t intend to stop, but the street preacher’s words caught my ear and I couldn’t help myself. “As Jesus died on the cross, He cried out, ‘It is finished.’ He died for all of our sins,… Continue reading Dialogue with an evangelical
Why do most Christians believe in never-ending torment in hell?
Pretty much no Universalist starts off as a Universalist. Nearly all of us first believed in either everlasting torment in hell or in Annihilationism. It’s normally only after someone challenges us to dig deeper to see if our soteriology is actually scriptural that we come to see just how clearly Scripture teaches Universal Reconciliation, and… Continue reading Why do most Christians believe in never-ending torment in hell?
The only part you play in your own salvation
As I’ve explained elsewhere on this site, it’s mortality (and death, for those who die prior to Christ’s return), as well as sinfulness because of that mortality, that Christ saves us from, not never-ending torment in “hell” or the lake of fire. As I’ve also covered, salvation under Paul’s Gospel is 100% based upon the… Continue reading The only part you play in your own salvation